Tim Clark exceeding own expectations at Deutsche Bank Championship

Saturday

Aug 30, 2008 at 12:01 AMAug 30, 2008 at 12:04 PM

Tim Clark entered Saturday's second round of the Deutsche Bank Championship at TPC Boston simply wanting to make the cut so he'd be in position to advance to next week's BMW Championship, the third of four FedEx Cup playoff tournaments.

Nate Crossman

Tim Clark entered Saturday's second round of the Deutsche Bank Championship at TPC Boston simply wanting to make the cut so he'd be in position to advance to next week's BMW Championship, the third of four FedEx Cup playoff tournaments.

He ended it in the lead.

Clark fired a 9-under-par 62 to give him a one-stroke lead over Mike Weir heading into today's third round. Weir shot a 66 after Friday's competitive course record-tying 61. Ben Curtis and Vijay Singh are two behind Clark, while Jim Furyk, Kevin Streelman, Sergio Garcia and Ernie Els are three back.

Not to be outdone by Weir, Clark almost made some history of his own.

The 32-year-old South African native was 10-under for his round through 13 holes, and 11-under through 16. Eleven-under would have broken Weir and Singh's competitive course record, while one more birdie would have given him an elusive 59. But he bogeyed the eighth and ninth (his 17th and 18th) and had to settle for the lead.

"My goal was to get to the TOUR championship," Clark said of playing well down the stretch. "I guess I'm just focusing a little bit more, trying harder.

"I didn't play a practice round this week. I didn't really even come to the course. But that's when I seem to play my best: when I relax off the course but I come out here to be focused and I really try hard. Obviously that's paying off for me."

After five birdies on his front nine, Clark made 59 a possibility with eagles on the par-5 second and par-4 fourth. On the fourth, he drove the green and rolled in a 22-foot putt from off the fringe.

"I thought to myself, if I can roll this in there's a great chance," Clark said.

Weir's round began poorly, with bogies on the 12th and 13th (his third and fourth holes). But he remained calm, even though birdie after birdie kept popping up no the electronic scoreboards dotting the course.

"I take what I can do," Weir said. "I can fly the ball about 270 yards, and if a bunker is 285, I'm not going to try to cut a corner, because that would be dumb. I just take what I can get and rely on my wedge game, and hopefully you get a good flat stick (putter) going during the rest of the week. That's the way I'm going to contend."

Despite bogeying his first hole, the 10th, Tour rookie Streelman birdied six of his next eight to make the turn at 5-under for his round and 10-under for the tournament.

Streelman had been having a pedestrian rookie year until the Wyndham Championship two weeks ago. He finished tied for sixth, then followed that up by finishing tied for fourth at The Barclays.

Anthony Kim, who shot his second 66 to finish tied for ninth with John Merrick, Heath Slocum and Steve Marino, has been one of the best players on Tour since winning the Wachovia Championship in May, recording a pair of victories and three top 15s.

But the 23-year-old said that Friday and Saturday was the first time in two months he felt as though he struck the ball solidly two days in a row.

"It's been a long time coming," Kim said. "I've been working with my coach (Adam Schreiber) for a little bit, and I didn't know if we were going to have it figured out. Luckily we had Thursday to figure it out, and it's been working ever since."

Kim blamed part of his problem on the British Open, in which he finished tied for tied for seventh. The winds at Royal Birkdale Golf Club humbled Kim, one of the longest hitters on Tour, and caused him to overcompensate and throw off his balance.

"I haven't played in winds where if I just crush a 3-iron it goes 145 (yards)," Kim said. "I consider myself one of the longer players out here, and to … it's embarrassing to hit a 3-wood and not hit it over 200 yards.

"It (the British Open) had an effect on it, and now I'm just getting back to my usual game."